Jason Lamb

In the 1990’s, PC gaming was dominated by a company called Apogee Software Ltd. Creators and publishers of such series as Duke Nukem, Commander Keen, DOOM, and Death Rally, Apogee dominated with an innovative varied shareware distribution method from the late 1980’s, and into the 1990’s.

So what happened to Apogee games? What are they doing now? Read on dear readers, for the answers lie below!Read More

In my opinion, Redwood Games was one of the best education game development houses in the early nineties. With classic such as Math Rescue and Word Rescue challenging children to learn in exciting and engaging ways, their games were mainstays of my childhood. Developed by Karen Crowther (now Karen Chun), the games were published by Apogee and went on to be nominated for, and win, many awards in the educational gaming category.

So what happened to Redwood Games, and Karen Chun? Is she still making games? Is she retired? Continue on good readers, for the answers lie in the interview below!

Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold may go down in the annals of gaming history as one of the most-ill timed releases to ever occur. On December 3rd 1993, Apogee would publish Jam Productions’ Blake Stone. The following week, on December 10th, ID Software’s juggernaut DOOM would be released to the world. If we look back on the history of both games, they would seem forever destined to collide.

With Remedy Entertainment’s release of Death Rally (2011) for iOS and Android, perhaps it’s time to go back and see what made the original Death Rally (1996) such a good game, and a prime candidate for a mobile revival.

Death Rally, a top-down arcade style racer, is at its core, a greatest hits collection of emerging mid-90’s gaming conventions. Weaponized vehicles, killable bystanders, and upgradeable equipment are all here in mid-90’s DOS glory. Being an Apogee published game, there’s even a cameo by the one and only Duke Nukem. Remedy’s choice to resurrect this franchise for modern mobile devices was seemingly an easy one. The game is simple, and above all, it’s a ton of fun.

By now, I’m sure everyone is aware of the success of the Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter. If not, Tim Schafer (Monkey Island, Psychonauts, etc.) and Double Fine created a Kickstarter with a goal of raising $400,000 so that they could make a a point and click adventure game, a genre that was seemingly deemed dead. Surprisingly though, they eventually surpassed their goal, raising over $3 million, and thus, the Kickstarter craze was born. Since Double Fine’s success, we have seen many people and many games try to achieve funding. However, one of the more interesting projects has been Chris Jones’ Tex Murphy – Project Fedora.

Tex Murphy, for those of you who don’t recall, was a series of detective games that reigned in popularity from the late 80’s to late 90’s. Utilizing FMV (full motion video), you would guide Tex Murphy through the post-apocalyptic noir stylings of post-WW3 San Francisco as he tracked down criminals, and struggled to get by. The Kickstarter, of course, is a bid to get a new Tex Murphy game made.

To learn about this, and Tex himself, I got hold of creator Chris Jones.

Shogo: Mobile Armor Division is nothing short of ambitious. Created by Monolith Productions, utilizing their brand new Lithtech engine, Shogo combines FPS standards of the time, with the dizzying influence of Japanese anime. Featuring such elements as a critical hit system, and the ability to pilot large mecha, Monolith attempts to push the boundaries of what a first person shooter can be. However, will all of this ambition, comes a distinct lack of cohesion, and ultimately, frustration.